Cast in shadow
by Thewatchman07
Summary: A Yogscast fanfic, post SOI/blackrock, and references some current minecraft series. When the terrors of old return to face Minecraftia, a world of ancient magic and strange technology, heroes must unite to face their nemesis. Will the Yogs be successful in their war against the darkness? (Won't focus much on the game itself, will include many Yogscast members to develop a plot).
1. Prologue

**_Prologue_**

 _The game has begun. I see the world before my eyes, and all the players like pieces on a chess board. Pitiful. Pitiful how humanity clings to this world, with an irrational fear of the void of death. All the… dreams they have, all they create… it sickens me. None of it shall save them when I sow the seeds of destruction and reap my long-awaited revenge, on players both old and new. I command the forces of darkness and wield death at my fingertips. Will they really believe that they have a chance to stand against me?_

 _The game has begun… and I am going to win._


	2. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1: Strange occurrences_**

Rythian reclined into the armchair of his study, rubbing his weary, sunken eyes. He had been translating tomes from various languages to try and further comprehend his magical abilities – or rather, lack of them. For years he had attempted to use his magical rings and create alchemical compounds, but he lacked any form of fuel, Mobius or Aeternalis, and he could no longer create the dark matter he had relied so heavily upon before… the incident. He had come to the conclusion of two theories:

One, that the nuclear explosions from petty wars of the past had altered the entire magnetic – and magical – spectrum. At least there had been a truce – between himself, the crazy scientist (that is, Lalna, although he had heard rumours of a battle with the members of the corrupt organisation 'H.A.T Corp'), and Sjin. Sjin had decided to retire to a life of farming after their encounter, but this was never going to be enough for the 'master builder'. There were also rumours that he was building his own kingdom, but Rythian knew that their quarrels had ended – he even aided Nano and himself in building his basalt tower, his own little piece of Blackrock stronghold.

His second theory was much darker: magic was dying, although he couldn't explain why. Some older magic was still around, and he had recently attempted to improve his knowledge on thaumic magic. This focused on manipulating the elements. He had discovered alchemical wizardry not that long ago, and now it no longer worked. His hypothesis was that the older the magic, the longer it took to die out. This disturbed him, as he couldn't for the life of him find any kind of cure.

He stood and walked to the balcony of the top floor. From here he could see for miles, but he felt that something was wrong. He looked over the river and saw Saberial and Zoey's 'fortress' across the river. The main tower had been painted the colours of the rainbow, and he knew that that was Zoey's work. A stark contrast to Rythian's Spartan design, built for defence over decoration, but even at their previous home she would brighten up the place, with – _No, stop thinking about her,_ Rythian told himself. She had abandoned him to live with Saberial (an ex-mercenary) a long time ago, but Rythian had never really moved on from their days of living together as close friends in Blackrock hold. However, that dream had been shattered long ago. Banishing those thoughts from his mind, Rythian looked out to his surroundings: the dense woodland around him, the wide plains to the east, the western ocean and, of course, the glowering mountains that encompassed the horizon. For a moment, he thought he saw a figure standing atop one of these mountains, but when he blinked, it vanished. _Must've been nothing,_ Rythian thought to himself as he returned to his desk.

He decided to write an entry of his findings in his diary before he became too tired to think coherently:

 _Day ? (Post-devastation)_

 _Time slips by me. I have spent days sat working in this study, possibly weeks. However, my search has not been fruitless; I have discovered two alarming theories about the decline of magic in our world. One is the impact of nuclear activity on the spectrum of magic, and the other is that magic is simply 'dying'. If this is the case, I cannot seem to find the cause. Perhaps it is not quite dying, as my philosopher's stone seems to work every now and again, but very rarely. Maybe it is being subdued by some dark power. All I know is that at the current rate this is occurring, it will be a while until my ender magic is affected at least._ _Damn you Lalna, damn you to hell_

 _Why can't I STOP THINKING ABOUT HER_

 _TEEP's moved ON, so should I_

He scribbled out the last few lines and sobbed quietly into his arm, his head face-down on the desk.


	3. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2: The last hope_**

Sjin hastily pulled the lever to close the door of their facility and sat against the metal wall, panting. He looked down and grimaced at the arrow in his chest – his body armour had done little to soften the impact. Lalna shared his grim expression, with what looked like a stab wound in his side. Both were bleeding profusely, but Sjin blurted out "Computer!" He was greeted with a response of the voice of their AI, which they had decided to call 'Squib'. "Yep. What can I do for you?" she asked in a calm, resigned tone. "We need *ahem* to send Lalna – back to warn the others. Five weeks," Sjin gasped between rapid breaths.

Squib replied "System power is failing – 7% and falling. However, that should be enough, provided we transport him somewhere no further than two kilometers from this facility". "Alright Sjin – _where_ should I go back to? The flux base?" Lalna asked, followed by a groan. "Yes. Got that Squib?" Sjin asked. "Priming coordinates now… right, the portal is primed. Good luck." "GO Lalna – GO!" Sjin yelled. The scientist stumbled to his feet, and staggered through the mysterious time gate and vanished, leaving Sjin behind to defend their base from seemingly endless hordes of monsters.


	4. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3: Tainted_**

"Lalna, where did you put my voodoo poppets?!" Nano asked, frustrated at the lack of progress she was making with her witchcraft abilities. "Have you looked in our computer?" he replied. She still had no idea how that whole computer storage system worked – some method of converting matter to energy and back again, but she hadn't bothered to listen to the rest of Lalna's nonsensical, mumbo-jumbo-science ramblings. With a heavy sigh, she used the search feature of the interface – but to no avail. "They're not heeeeeere!" she wined. "Hold on, I'm coming" Lalna replied. He had been feeding the dinosaurs and, despite growing all sorts of them from fossilised DNA using culture vats, they regarded them as pets. Nano felt a sudden itch on her tainted arms, but decided to ignore it. She knew that scratching would do nothing. She still hadn't forgiven Lalna for infecting her with the flux taint in his old lab, during one of his crazy experiments when she was an 'apprentice'. However, he had been infected by her, so they were equal in a way. The taint was a deep purple in colour, and had seemed to spread at an alarming rate. Lalna told her that it had been a corruption of _vis_ , or positive magical energy. However, she had decided that it wasn't that much of an affliction, save the voices she sometimes heard in her head…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ungraceful arrival of a poorly dressed scientist dwindling on the verge of madness. "That's strange, they were there before…" Lalna said, after stumbling through the door. _His hair was all over the place today_ , Nano thought to herself – the blond bird's nest atop his head was a stark contrast to her perfectly styled, neatly cut, jet-black asymmetric fringe. "Before what, Lalna?" Nano asked impatiently. "Before our visit from… the murderer." He knew it was a touchy subject – some kind of madman had impersonated Lalna and later murdered their chocobos, mysterious birds with small wings that made up for this with flamboyant tails and long, clawed feet. He had kidnapped the real Lalna for a while, and – after Nano found out – killed their pets and drew foreboding symbols with their blood. He had been studying them for a while, ever since they had recreated their base following the nuclear 'war' with the infamous H.A.T corp. "You said he took a lock of your hair, Nano. Could he-" Nano interrupted "Don't even go there, mate." "Well still, you should look into some curse-protection-witchery-magic-y-stuff. I guess," Lalna replied, and chuckled. "It's not FUNNY LALNA!" She shouted at him. "Woah, Nano, sorry, jeez. I'll just, go do science now," he said, nervously clearing his throat.

Before they could get further engrossed in the argument Lalna stepped out into the cold morning sunlight and a figure seemed to teleport inside the main building. A figure that looked just like Lalna. He was wearing sunglasses – despite being indoors – and a lab coat identical to the other Lalna's, but this was stained red with his blood – he was obviously badly wounded. "Lalna?!" Nano asked. "Yes, but, not the one you know," he said between desperate gasps of air, as though he was drowning. He grabbed her arm. "Nano, tell the others…" He slowly removed his sunglasses, and looked at her with a piercing stare. This wasn't the Lalna she knew. This one had pain in his eyes. "We have a code black. He… is… returning." And with that, the clone breathed his last breath.

Nano called out to the _real_ one, "Lalna!? LALNA! " "Ah, geez Nano I could hear you from bloody miles away, what's wro-" He stopped himself as he saw the body. "Oh God. Nano, what did he tell you?" For a moment Nano stood there, here mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, too shocked to use her voice. "Nano?" "He… he said something about someone returning…" She finally managed to stutter. "Go on," Lalna said encouragingly. "And then… something… about a code black?" As soon as the words escaped her lips, Lalna suddenly showed an expression of the utmost fear and his face drained of colour – but then contorted into a twisted grimace, his eyes deadly serious. "Nano, get all the animals underground now, I don't care how and I don't care where." Nano replied "But- what does it mean?" Lalna didn't seem to hear her. "Find a cave, or, I don't know. Just make sure it's hidden. Take all the dinosaurs," "Lalna?!" Still, he didn't seem to even acknowledge her presence. "I need to contact the others. Oh god. Oh godohgodohgod. I'll use the echonet, or-" "LALNA!" Nano shouted at him. "What does it all _mean_?" There was a pause, after which Lalna replied.

"He's coming back Nano.  
Israphel is returning".


	5. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4: The council_**

Xephos looked around at the people seated around the table, located on the top of a grassy hill in the middle of a forest. Some of the vagabonds gathered there looked around with suspicious glances; others were failing to hide their confusion and were looking around for any kind of clue as to why they had gathered. Honeydew was neither. He sat at the table cradling his head, as he had promptly fallen asleep, and was snoring profusely. Xephos knew that he wasn't the brightest of dwarves – and dwarves weren't all that bright – but what he lacked in brainpower he made up for in brawn and, funnily enough, childish enthusiasm. He had arms the width of tree trunks and an impressive belly to match, a stark contrast to Xephos' wiry frame. Whilst working in the labs, Honeydew was often the test subject, as he was always willing to follow instructions from his companion. However, he was generally uninterested unless the technology had anything to do with digging holes and/or making cakes. Xephos nostalgically brought back to mind their Jaffa cake factory and their spaceship, the dwarf star. He was impressed with Honeydew's design, but he had to go and throw cheese – bloody _cheese_ – into their nuclear reactor aboard the ship, as if that were a good idea. The whole situation got pretty out of hand after that, destroying the entire spaceship but interestingly enough at least three of Lalna's clones had survived. Xephos knew that having him on the Hole Digger team was a bad idea, but he did accelerate the project considerably with his bizarre experiments (one of which happened to be creating clones to store on the spaceship). Still, Xephos looked fondly back on those days.

He struggled to remember the names of everyone else present; there was H.A.T corp, making inappropriate jokes as usual, Sjin, two Lalnas (as if one wasn't confusing enough), Nano, Fiona, Zoey, Rythian, Turpster, Lomadia, Nilesy, Littlewood, Strippin and Benji – They were waiting, as usual, on Sips. _Speak of the devil_ , Xephos thought to himself as he saw Sips stroll up the hill. "Ho ho hoooo, travellers! No seriously, what's this all about? I was just having a good time on the, er, Sipsco summertime executive retreat, lying on a sunny beach with some fine Italian puurRRRrno-" Xephos interrupted, "Yes, yes, we get it Sips but there's a bit of a crisis going on at the-""No, no, no you big bastard, I wasn't finished. So in the middle of all this, I get this message…" For another five minutes, Sips rambled on, and Honeydew turned to Xephos, whispering _"I don't think he's going to shut up"_. _"You're right,"_ Xephos replied. "…So I, a prosperous dirt manufacturer, have had my holiday interrupted so rudely by-" "SHUT the FUCK UP already Sips!" came a whinging voice from the H.A.T corp trio. It was Alsmiffy, a reptilian – yet humanoid – creature. Sips replied as casually as he could, "Jeez. Calm your anoos, you big green dumb dumb." "SOUNDS LIKE SMIFFY WANTS THE D!" came a shout from Trottimus who, like Smiffy, wasn't human but part-walrus. Generally, people didn't ask about their parentage, but they were better known for their rowdiness than their strange appearances. In fact, the only one of the trio that was human was Ross, yet the three of them got on together like peas in a pod. _No, more like really immature peas in a pod that won't shut up,_ Xephos thought to himself. The following cacophony of exclamations from the trio was all that was heard for the next minute;

"Ooh, FILTHY!"

"Trott, you're such a DIRTY bugger."

"SO HORNY."

"Go suck a big fat one Smiffy, you MASSIVE PLEB!"

"You FILTHY twats!"

"Ross, you're SO RANDY!"

"WILL YOU LOT JUST SHUT UP! Argh, balls to it," Xephos said, infuriated. "THE NEXT PERSON WHO SAYS ANOTHER FUCKING WORD…" Sure enough, this caught the attention of everyone gathered, even Sips and Sjin, who were desperately attempting to stifle their hysterical laughter. "Thank you," Xephos said, exasperated, and sat down once he realised he had stood up in the commotion. He straightened his maroon jacket and drank a glass of water to hide the fact his face had flushed with colour. Honeydew stood up in his place. _Oh, this'll be good…_ Xephos thought to himself. Honeydew cleared his throat and stroked his gargantuan, unruly ginger beard. "Right, ahem. You see, we've got a bit of a problem with, um, whatshisface…"

At this point, Rythian chuckled. "A _bit_ of a problem?" he asked. "So, the removal of life as we know it from the face of the earth, not to mention the death of magic in all forms, is just a _tiny_ bit of a problem?" Honeydew merely giggled in response. "Oh, so it's a fucking joke to you now? God damn, how did you idiots ever defeat him in the first place?!" Rythian exclaimed, exasperated. As Honeydew was opening his mouth to object, Nano piped up from the other end of the twelve-foot-long table. "You mentioned magic dying, Rythian? It's just that some of my botania magic hasn't really been working, but my witchery is, kinda, doing all right." Xephos knew that botania was something to do with using nature to collect mana, which was then used in various magical artifacts such as rings and amulets. Kim's witchery skills were self-explanatory; she had gained a reputation for cursing Trott, making him insane for a time, although the rest of her magical activities remained shrouded in mystery.

"Well, that makes sense in accordance with my theories. The way I see it, all magic is either being affected by disruptions in the spectrum caused by all these nuclear explosions from you warmongers. This means that a lot of my alchemical magic, just, doesn't seem to work. It's something to do with the effect these disturbances has on certain magical items and their properties. However, I believe that the older the magic, the stronger a shift in the magical spectrum is needed to disrupt it, possibly explaining why witchery and ender magic still seem usable."

"My other theory is a lot worse. Some entity in this world is killing magic. I don't know who, and I don't know how, but I can make a fairly educated guess. We seem to see magic as just another form of science, it works because it works, but I don't believe that to be the case. Magic is a _living_ _thing_ and can therefore be killed. Israphel may somehow be killing it, starting with newer types of magic as they may be weaker, in order to leave us defenceless."

"Um, excuse me?" came a timid voice to Xephos' left. "Go on, Zoey" he said to the girl with fiery red hair as he stroked his neatly manicured stubble. "So… Israphel has enough power to destroy everything in the world. Do you think it would be a good idea to try and fight him? All this talk of stopping him, and we don't even know what he wants. I believe that we should try for peace, or just leave him alone. I dunno, but he may have learnt from his mistakes. What we don't want to do is to make him angry." He expected this kind of response from her, as Zoey wasn't the type to pick fights. Unlike Saberial, her companion. Xephos understood that she was, or used to be, some kind of mercenary judging by the chainmail she wore and the sword she brandished at her hip, although she was just as quiet as Zoey at times.

"She's got a point," said Sips, out of the blue. "Maybe we could even offer him some sort of bargain, like some cash, fine quality dirt, or maybe some biiiig women. Or, y'know, some other good stuff. I have my _meth_ ods." Sips laughed and produced a small chuckle from Turpster who, like Xephos, knew all too well about Sips and his fond of selling hard drugs. Xephos had decided to leave the dirt company after that, but for all he knew Sips could have a fully operational drug-manufacturing cartel.

"No, no, no. That won't work. I'm _telling_ you." Rythian insisted, standing up. To be honest, Rythian scared him at times with his vast knowledge of magic, and even his appearance – six foot tall with an impressive build beneath his adventurer's garb (a black leather jacket over a white vest, and a tattered purple scarf) – and strangest of all, his eyes _glowed_. "We have to strike now, first, while he's off-guard. Prolonging it would only bring more destruction, and Israphel doesn't want anything we have to offer. You saw what he did, the desertification he caused. Almost half of the entire world was turned to dust, and the Skylords have all been killed."

Nano interrupted, "Sorry, but – who are these Skylords?" At this point, the Lalna that had the flux taint spoke up, "A kinda-old race of powerful humans with advanced technology that used to live in giant cities, some in the sky. Each one was killed, in one way or another, by Israphel." At this point, the other Lalna took over, "They had their own airships, and their technology was way more advanced than any of our own at the time." The first then said, "Our technology may have improved drastically, but it wasn't enough for the Skylords and I'm not sure it will be enough to keep _us_ safe."

"Right," said Xephos, stepping in. "The way I see it, we have three options. The first is to build defences for a worst-case scenario. Israphel may be preparing himself for some kind of war, so we could build underground shelters and defence mechanisms." Xephos looked to the group for approval. "If I may," said Strippin, one of the burly 'rail bros'. He was considerably less hairy but not quite as big as his closest friend, but still sported an impressive beard. "Benji and I have been creating a network of underground mineshafts recently. We could, like, evacuate people down there quickly if we need to."

"Great," Xephos replied. "We could build an underground shelter there if needs must. Our second option is to attack him now, when he least expects it…" This statement was met with a cowering silence from the entire group save Rythian who, after a heartbeat, said "we should gather some intelligence first, but we mustn't delay."

"The other choice is to try to bargain for peace, with some kind of incentive. If I know Israphel, though, he won't just be happy with anything. He will want land, and lots of it, so he can-" "So he can summon a horde of undead monsters? Hmm?" Rythian interrupted. Sjin piped up at this point, coming to terms with the gravity of the situation. "Sure, Lalna and I have the technology to time travel, but in terms of weaponry? If the rumours of his powers are true, I'm not sure even our most advanced weapons could stop him." "Exactly, guys!" exclaimed Zoey, "We don't want to anger him." Sips chipped in, "Sjin, you dummy, just hop into the future and get some kick-ass gear from some space station or something if it all goes south."

At this point, the faces of Sjin and the uninfected Lalna turned bright red. "Well, you see…" Lalna started, "…umm…we don't have sufficient power to travel more than two weeks into the future." Sjin continued. "We can go back quite some time… say… a hundred years?", although Lalna responded with "more like fifty, sixty at best."

"Well, I think it's obvious," Zoey said. "We must negotiate peace." Xephos stood and addressed the entire group. "It's time for a vote. Either way, we can assign a team to assist the Rail brothers in building an underground shelter, but who thinks we should strike?" Xephos saw a smattering of hands, including Rythian, Lomadia, the fluxed Lalna and the H.A.T trio who looked all too eager to have a fight. "And who votes to negotiate peace?" At this point, the rest of the group, including Zoey, Nano, the 'time cops' as they had called themselves, Sips, Nilesy, Turpster and Littlewood. Xephos noticed out of the corner of his eye that Honeydew hadn't bothered to vote. "It is clear then. We shall bargain with him in three days' time. Rail bros, you have until then". He knew that despite the two of them being fairly simple, they could do a lot of work very quickly when they put their minds to it.

At this point, Rythian stood up and walked away. Lomadia, on the other hand, approached him. "You're making a mistake, Xephos. Don't you remember what he can do?" "Exactly Lomadia. There is no way to defeat him," Xephos defended himself. "So you think we have more chance reasoning with a psychopathic mass-murderer?" She didn't wait for a response, and walked briskly away to catch up with Rythian.


	6. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5: The fall_**

Ridgedog stood at the highest peak of the great mountain range in the far north, admiring the view he had at what seemed to be the top of the world. The cold bothered him little, as he wore titanium body-plating lined with insulation. He was known to be skillful in both magic and science, and was regarded with a god-like reverence by most of the others. However, he hadn't been present at the council meeting. He abruptly received a call over the echonet – a fundamental everyday communications system – from Xephos. "What did I miss?" he asked. "Well…" Xephos replied. After a pause, he continued. "The council has decided to attempt negotiations with Israphel". "That was stupid", he replied. "Well, what was I supposed to do Ridge? It was a clear majority vote!" The truth was that Ridge had come here to search for Israphel himself, but had so far been fruitless in his search. He'd hoped to gather enough information regarding his location and supporters for an assault, but he saw now that it wouldn't happen.

"Have you found _anything_ then, Ridge?" Xephos exclaimed through the earpiece, exasperated. "Give me time. Two more days and I'll have searched the northlands." "GOD DAMN IT, RIDGE, WE DON'T HAVE TWO DAYS!" came a reply. _Xephos has gone – the stress has got to him_ thought Ridgedog. He tried to reply, but Xephos had disconnected. "Shit." Ridge whispered to himself. He was just about to fly north with his jetpack when he saw something on the rocky ground. "Is that… sand?" he asked himself.

Then he realised, but it was too late. The force of the strike to his back sent him spiraling through the air down the mountainside, but he turned his jetpack thrusters on just in time to break his fall. Still, he was winded as he staggered to his feet to see his opponent – a man dressed in black, his skin pale as bone and his eyes a deeper crimson than blood. He hovered just above the rocky ground, and tendrils of shadow surrounded him, a type of magic Ridge had never seen before. He had to act quickly. He un-holstered a prototype laser gun he had been developing and fired a few shots, but it was too little and too late. Israphel teleported to his left and then his right a fraction of a second before the beams would have struck. Ridge could only stare on in horror as one of the shadows coiled around his weapon and threw it from his grasp, and another formed a razor sharp spike.

With a flick of his wrist, Israphel impaled Ridgedog through his stomach. He looked down in horror and realised that he would never recover. In a last ditch attempt, he drew a magical dagger from his belt created from the toughest thaumium alloy and swung wildly, but Israphel caught his arm and in a heartbeat, the dagger shattered into pieces. Powerless, Ridgedog lay on the ground, his lifeblood draining away in what seemed like pints every second. His dying eyes saw Israphel stroll away down the mountainside – and then the void.


	7. Chapter 6

**_Chapter 6: A fool's errand_**

"Rythian!" Lomadia called, desperately trying to keep up with him as he strode deeper into the forest. "Rythian, listen to me!" The truth was that he could hear her, but was in no mood for a conversation. At any other time, he would have appreciated her company. She lived up to her name, _Lomadia,_ the Elvish word for "grace". He often imagined that she was part-elf, with her flowing locks of golden hair and expertise with a bow. At times, she could be very graceful, but at others-

"RYTHIAN, you sodding twat, LISTEN TO ME!" This caught his attention, and he turned around. "Flippin' heck, you really are going deaf." "What do you want, Lomadia?" He replied with as much patience as he could muster – which wasn't much considering his sour mood after the meeting. "You aren't alone, Rythian, even if you want to be. There are enough others that agree with your plan to start a pre-emptive attack. We wouldn't need too many people, and we could wipe this guy out before he even becomes a problem." "Well, aside from the fact we have no idea where he is, or what he's capable of." Rythian responded. "Well, you and I are no strangers to stealth – once we've found where that coward is held up, the hatters can create a diversion while we sneak in." It was true, both had experience with assassinations in the past, but Rythian thought he had put that behind him. _Then again, I thought Israphel had gone to the grave,_ he thought to himself.

"OK, let's be optimistic about this. He takes the bait – which isn't likely – and we sneak up behind his guards. You think he will let us get close enough to stab him in the back? If I remember correctly, he is a master of shadow magic. He would subconsciously be able to kill us before we got anywhere near him." Lomadia thought for a second, and then replied. "I can still use magic, Rythian. I can curse him so he is unable to use his." This was true. Everyone knew that she was just as good at witchery magic as Nano, if not better, but Rythian still doubted that she would be able to subdue the powers of the dark lord.

He sighed. "I suppose this is our best shot. When did you want to go through with it?" "As soon as we find where he's hiding", she replied with a grin.


	8. Chapter 7

**_Chapter 7: Fear_**

"GOD DAMN IT, RIDGE, WE DON'T HAVE TWO DAYS!" Xephos exclaimed into his mic. They needed to know where Israphel was, and the truth was he was afraid. He was afraid, and he was therefore angry. He sat down at the desk in front of the monitor and wiped his sweaty brow. All of a sudden, he heard static in his ear. "Ridge? Don't hang up on me. Come in, Ridgedog." Something was wrong, he knew it. "Honeydew, turn on the GPS tracker again." "The what-now?" he replied, somewhat dazed. "Just press that fucking button!" Xephos said, pointing at an unassuming green button on a control pad in the lab's computer room. Upon pressing it, Honeydew declared "Xephos, I'm going mining. Good luck with all your computers and shit." Xephos could tell that he was frustrated as well, and he was actually more of a hindrance than a helper at this point, although now he could see that Ridgedog hadn't moved anywhere. Trying to stay calm, he said "fine, fine. Try and bring back some copper though? We're running low." "Alright man, see you later." And with that, he ungracefully stood up from his chair, scratched his unruly ginger beard and picked up a pickaxe he had left by the door, humming to himself.

After he left, Xephos heard a voice from the echonet. It wasn't Ridgedog.

" _Hello again, spaceman. Did you miss me?_ "

Dumbfounded, he couldn't think of a response. If Israphel had Ridge's echo-unit, then…

" _Oh yes. I seem to have killed your little friend here. He didn't put up much of a fight-_ "

"Shut the FUCK UP! He's not dead you bastard!"

" _Oh, but he is_ " came the reply, in an unnaturally deep, sinister bassy voice. " _He was just the first. All of you will die in agony by my hand. You thought you stood a chance against me. You will fall, just as the skylords did._ "

This was the first time he had heard Israphel speak to him, and it chilled him to the bone. "What do you want, Israphel?!" Xephos yelled with as much courage as he could muster.

" _Oh, not much… just your entire world._ "

"We can figure something out. A deal. Meet me in the great valley in three days' time."

" _You have two._ "

A shiver ran up Xephos' spine. Suddenly, the room temperature seemed to drop below freezing, although he was coated in sweat. He trembled, not from the temperature but fear. With shaky hands, he reached into a filing cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whisky. He hadn't had much of a taste for the stuff, but he needed to drink to calm his nerves.

After a few glasses, the world was spinning, and he slumped back into his chair, sobbing.

They were all going to die.


	9. Chapter 8

**_Chapter 8: A proud kingdom_**

The great leader sat by a table on the highest balcony of the _Laughing Demon_ tavern. He could see for miles, and reflected on what he had accomplished. He had begun with nothing but a handful of loyal subjects, but his kingdom had grown rapidly under his rule. Farmers still worked the fields, but now he had a quarry and some basic machinery powered by a windmill that towered over the town, at its centre. He also admired the view of a fairly large port, where traders from all over the world came to exchange goods. The area was jam-packed with diverse cultures. While he wasn't the greatest fighter in Minecraftia, not by a long shot, he had put together a small army of competent fighters to defend this city – Sjin's landing – and it had prospered so far. He had sent some of them out to patrol the surrounding area for possible threats, but still had a considerable fighting force left in the city. Although…

"Courier!" In an instant, one of his faithful subjects rushed to his side. "Go find out what is taking the patrol team so long. I will pay extra if you have it done within the hour." "Yes, m'lord. Thank you," he replied. Sjin thought to himself, _how can I keep this up?_ He was living a double-life – when he wasn't attending the kingdom's needs, he would return to the Time cops headquarters and work on certain cases with Lalna, although they knew they couldn't alter history too much without damaging the space-time continuum – or some crap like that. Lalna handled the science stuff. He would often use the time machine just to catch up on sleep, but knew he couldn't do it forever as his ageing rate was accelerated because of it.

His thoughts were interrupted by an arrival at the gates, and with it came terrible news…

"Hello there, Ser Sjin is it?" came a highly arrogant, nasal voice. Sjin strode towards the rider to greet him, as was customary in the presence of another lord, although he walked with as much pride as he could muster. The man wore fine silks, and dismounted from his horse with unmatched elegance. "I am Lord Blackwood, rightful owner of these lands. Not that I am angry with your presence here. I simply wish to inform you that you must pay a small tax. I see you have a quarry up and running, so shall we say – thirty gold ingots and five diamonds by the end of the week?" Sjin gasped. "Each week, by the way", he added, smug with Sjin's reaction. Sjin mumbled in response, "Surely we can work something out? My kingdom hasn't been running for that long, but long enough that I am surprised you haven't asked sooner." "Very well." Lord Blackwood didn't bother to hide the annoyance in his voice. "I will give you two weeks to prepare your first instalment, and we shall work it out from there. My tax collectors won't be late. Farewell."

With that, he mounted his horse and left as swiftly as he had arrived.

It wasn't until he'd left that Sjin's patrol returned. He addressed them and the other knights of his garrison. "Soldiers, gather round. _Lord_ Blackwood wants us to hand over all our gold so he can wipe his arse with it. I tell you, in two weeks' time all he's going to get is a load of dead tax collectors. Now, WHO'S WITH ME!?" He was met with a mighty cheer, and when his soldiers settled down, he issued his commands. "I want double the patrols, and I will give out double rations, until the tax collectors come. I don't want that Blackwood to surprise us in any way, and I've told you all about the threat of Israphel…"


	10. Chapter 9

**_Chapter 9: Assault_**

"Right, so we all know what we're doing?" Rythian asked those gathered at the crudely-constructed camp. It consisted of three tents, and they were gathered round a table at the centre. They had chosen this spot, a clearing in the woods, as they were close enough to Israphel's fort but still had the cover of the woods. Rythian had scouted the woodlands beyond the great plains and had found a large ruined castle crawling with undead knights and necromancers. It was clear that Israphel wanted to be seen – he wasn't hiding from anyone. "Us hatters go first, make some BOOMS if you know what I mean," Ross replied. Alsmiffy grinned and brandished two sticks of dynamite. "Ryth and I then sneak through a weakness in the wall that shouldn't be guarded," Lomadia chipped in. "But before we do, I'll activate the curse on _him_." She had constructed a makeshift witchery altar, and stolen a blood sample from the labs Xephos worked in of Israphel, although no one knew quite how they obtained it. "It won't work for long, though."

"The potions are ready for you, guys," came a voice from inside the larger tent. It was the Lalna with the flux taint, _the one with sense_ Rythian thought to himself. He was fairly certain this was the original one and the other was a clone, but he wasn't quite sure. He had come along to brew potions that would make him and Lomadia harder to detect – their footfalls would be quieter, as well as their breathing, and there would be a shroud around them that should obscure them from the vision of the guards. Rythian disapproved of magic being used in conjunction with science – he thought it should be kept pure – but sometimes it had its benefits. Lalna was able to chemically break down the ingredients and make sure the potions were potent enough using his machinery.

Lalna left the tent with two small test tubes, sealed with corks. "Don't open these until you need to drink them. The air could oxidise it, and I have no idea what it'll do then," he chuckled. He passed them over, and then Lomadia performed a ritual involving a strange incantation in a tongue he did not recognise. She placed ingredient upon ingredient upon the altar, chanting as she did it, and eventually burnt them all together. As it burnt, she told the group to split up and move out. Lalna's job wasn't over. As soon as they arrived, he climbed a greatwood tree to keep watch over the castle. Lomadia and Rythian stayed hidden in the foliage while the H.A.T trio advanced.

"Alright there, mate?" Trottimus approached one of the guards by the main entrance. The guards here were human, but were either insane cultists or under some magic curse. "You have no business here, mortal. Leave, and the dark lord may show you mercy-" "Do YOU want a big, fat, juicy COCK in your mouth?" Alsmiffy interrupted, rapidly. He had been crouching down behind Trott, and had taken the cultist completely by surprise. "GREAT. Then head on down to MONSTER COCKS CHICKEN restaurant TODAY for our 2pm COCK O'CLOCK deal. BOOMBOOMBOOOOOOM," he shouted. The cultist began to draw an iron dagger from the belt around his robes when Ross tapped him on the shoulder. No one had seen him sneak past, but he wasn't trying to stay undetected for long. "HeHEhohahaHAAA! Have you tried our new c-c-CRAZY PILLS?!"

Meanwhile, Rythian and Lomadia had downed their foul-tasting potions and crept through the unexplained sand surrounding the castle until they reached the crack in the wall. Rythian drew one of his _katar_ s from his belt, curved daggers made of red matter, the sharpest material he had ever created with alchemy, and began chiselling a way through. It did not take him long to carve a small hole in it, and once he had he took a pouch of ender pearls and gave one to Lomadia. The magic the strange and tiny spheres gave off was used by endermen, tall humanoid creatures that were black as night, to teleport around. Unlike humans, they didn't need to throw them on the ground to use them. Lomadia went in first, throwing a pearl through the gap.

He heard the pearl crack, albeit not loudly, and watched as Lomadia disappeared right before his eyes, leaving behind a couple of dim, noiseless purple sparks. That's what he liked about ender magic – it was so subtle. Nothing flashy. _"Coast is clear, Ryth."_ Rythian was interrupted in his thoughts by Lomadia's whisper, and he followed in her footsteps.

They had emerged in a large courtyard, with the main keep to their left and the exit on their right. A tall stone wall encaged them. _"Right. There are at least five on the walls, three patrolling the courtyard and one by the door. Do we want to take them out, or try to sneak past them?"_ Lomadia asked. The guards were tricky to spot in the dim lighting of the evening as they wore black robes and hoods, but the two of them had keen eyes. _"Sneak. When the hatters do their thing, we head for the door of the keep. Reckon you can take the one by the door, though?"_ _"Yep,"_ She responded, arming herself with a small crossbow previously attached to her back.

Meanwhile, the trio were still distracting the guards and had attracted quite a crowd. Well, four of them anyway. "Smiff, I think it's time to show them the party trick," Ross said. "Well, you heard, can we come in?" Alsmiffy tried to reason with the guards. One of them spoke up. "No, you shouldn't be here. Leave." "Just do it here, you ugly shit." Trottimus was incredibly frustrated at having to wait for such a long time. "Alright, you impatient fuck," the reptilian responded. With that, he headbutted the nearest guard and before they knew it, they had started a brawl.

Rythian and Lomadia waited a couple of minutes, and it began to rain fairly heavily upon them. _This'll work to our advantage,_ Lomadia thought. _The rain should mask any noise we make and wash away our footprints from the sand._ After a while, she was about to give up hope when they heard an explosion from the main entrance. The guards flocked together to go to the main entrance, save the one standing by the door of the keep who stood there, shocked. _"Now!"_ she whispered, firing a bolt into the woman's neck. She fell to the floor, but made very little noise as she bled into the sand. Rythian took point, crouching down but walking with a sense of urgency.

When they reached the keep, Rythian opened the door and checked for guards inside. Lomadia grabbed the body and dragged it around the corner. "I'd imagine he's upstairs," Rythian explained. As they began to sneak up the spiral staircase, they saw a huge brute begin lumbering down towards them. There was no life in his eyes, and his skin had begun to decay – they could see the maggots around its eyes. Rythian drew his two _katars,_ and Lomadia fired a few crossbow bolts at him, but he didn't slow down. They could see now that he was huge – at least seven feet tall. He shrugged off the bolts like flea bites. As he approached, Rythian knew that he had to strike now before it took too much ground. With one stab, he plunged a _katar_ straight into its belly and with the other he tried to swing at its head. However, the undead atrocity was faster than he had anticipated, and blocked the swing with one of its huge forearms. It then kicked Rythian straight in the chest, and sent him sprawling backwards onto the cold, tiled floor.

As she climbed the stairway, Lomadia noticed that it wore no armour and bore no weapons, although it didn't need them. The back of its head was completely unprotected – she saw her chance. Like a cat, she leapt from the stairs and mid-leap, she cocked her wrist and a blade sprang out from her forearm. She plunged this blade deep into the skull, and it toppled to the ground. Rythian, winded and dazed, looked up in disbelief. "How- how did you-?" She just smiled, and tapped her forehead before giving him a hand up from the floor.

Together, they reached the top of the stairs and looked through the door, which was slightly ajar, and saw Israphel sitting on a chair overlooking the castle. There were two guards at each side of the room, and Rythian used a special sign language they had created to tell her to go for the two guards while he would attack Israphel. She nodded, and Rythian wordlessly mouthed a countdown. _"Three… two… one…"_

They were destined to fail from the start. They both rushed into the room, and Lomadia shot the two guards either side, but Rythian had not seen one in a little alcove beside the door. The cultist grabbed and restrained Lomadia, but Rythian had not taken notice of this as he vaulted over a desk and tried to plant a katar into the back of Israphel's head.

In one swift move, Israphel had risen and grabbed Rythian's arm. He twisted, spraining Rythian's wrist. Grimacing, Rythian grabbed the other katar from behind his back and tried to stab him, but he moved out of the way so Rythian struck thin air. "Oh, you fools. When will you ever learn? You cannot kill me, yet you insist on trying again and again. You thought I needed that magic? I still managed to defeat the fools Xephos and Honeydew all that time ago without it." Both of the warriors remained silent, Lomadia desperately squirming to free herself from her captor.

"You even managed to kill my little pet downstairs. I'm impressed. Or I would be if you hadn't been foolish enough to come here in the first place." "You sick FUCK," Rythian shouted, enraged and ashamed. "Oh I'm not finished with you yet, _ender mage_ ," he said patronisingly. "You two will have a great time downstairs in the dungeons." He gestured to the remaining guard, "Lock that one up, and take all of her weapons. I'll escort this one to the cells myself."

As they reached the ground floor, Rythian realised that he had to do something. His hands were bound, but he managed to reach into the pouch at his side and drop an ender pearl on the ground behind them. As soon as he had been teleported, he rushed the cultist guarding Lomadia, headbutted him and shouted "GO! GO!" while kneeing him in the stomach. She ran and kicked the door down before vanishing into the courtyard.

Rather than pursue her, Israphel struck Rythian on the back of the head and knocked him out.


	11. Chapter 10

**_Chapter 10: Pieces of the past_**

"God-FUCKING-DAMNIT LALNA!" Xephos yelled. "We're on our way to try and bargain with him, and you're telling me you tried to KILL HIM?!"

After seeing Lomadia run outside with her hands bound, it was safe to say that their plan had failed. He had no idea if the HAT trio had made it out alive, and was certain that Rythian had been captured or killed. Now, he had to explain to the rest of the council what had gone wrong. "Listen, Xephos, he will kill us all. He doesn't care for anything we have to offer him, he wants to kill everything that lives", interjected Lomadia. "You could never have defeated him though, could you?!" He replied. "What happened to you, Xephos? You used to be so full of hope, you defeated him for a while, and-" Lalna was interrupted. "ALRIGHT, Alright." Xephos sighed. "I'll tell you everything that happened… beyond the grove."

Legends had been told (and songs had been sung) across the lands of the heroes' great struggle against Israphel; the battle of the breach, passing the three impossible challenges to become Skylords in a mysterious floating city, purging the corruption from the dwarven halls of Stoneholm. However, all ended with the events that took place when they ventured into the great desert to put an end to Israphel's reign. The sands in the desert were corrupted, and tainted those who were exposed too long to it. However, Israphel wasn't cultivating them; rather, he was moving them in order to expose what lay beneath…

"What, WHAT?!" asked Nano, clearly excited. _Judging by the wobble in her voice, though, she seems nervous_ thought Xephos. "The jade sentinels. Three giant robots, each around seven hundred metres tall. We discovered one by going inside it and while they don't have minds of their own, they can be programmed." "They had all sorts of technology and shit inside it," interrupted Honeydew. "Crazy weapons and cloning machines. I may have accidentally – on purpose – used one…" "Anyway," responded Xephos, keen to continue the story.

After they had discovered these contraptions, they met a friend of theirs in a desert. A druid, who had immense magical powers, cultivating his own little piece of eden in an unending desert. The Dwarf and the Spaceman left with great reluctance, still wearied in mind and body from the death of their friend, Knight Peculier, who had discovered that he was the grandson of the legendary Verigan Antioch – founder of the Templars sworn to fight the evil monsters of the desert beyond the wall – and was named after him. But they followed his grandfather's map, and eventually found Israphel's stronghold.

At this point, he was at the peak of his power. He had an army three thousand strong of zombies and cultists alike. However, they were concealed in a cave. And so, the two of them blundered in and were consequently captured.

They were locked up, but learnt a lot from where they were. They had two days until Israphel could turn the sentinels back online, and they overheard where the main access terminal would be, despite the fact that each sentinel would also have a crew operating it from controls inside. All was not lost for the two adventurers. They were kept in the same prison cell as Daisy Duke, a fair lady from the town of Terrorvale. When she heard news of Peculier's death, she was distraught, but thought of an escape plan nonetheless. They left, but she was too weak to continue and was once again imprisoned. In just a day, however, the Dwarf and Spaceman assembled an army of five hundred dwarves, mercenaries, Skylords and Shiplords alike from all over Minecraftia–

"HAhahahahaHAH! Sorry, Xephos," interrupted Honeydew. "What?" asked Lomadia. "Shiplord," Honeydew muttered, and chuckled to himself. Xephos couldn't help himself either. When they were done, Xephos continued the tale.

This included many from their adventures, including the great but clumsy wizard Fumblemore, Skylords Lysander and Jasper who had put aside their many quarrels, Spacker Lechuck with Moira Magmabloom and the few fighting dwarves left in Stoneholm and Isabel Peculier, grieved by her brother's fate. She had no idea that she was descended from the Antiochs until they told her.

With great haste, they marched at dawn on the final day to Israphel's stronghold. He was ready to meet them in plain sight on the sands. Despite their impressive numbers, there were no desertions from the army the two heroes led. They fought valiantly, slaying their many foes, but around them the Dwarf and the Spaceman could see their friends fall in the chaos; Skylord Lysander was shot three times by Israphel with his deadly cursed bow, but not before slaughtering three more cultists. Spacker Lechuck was, ironically, torn to pieces by zombies (following a cannon wound, he had always looked like he had returned from the grave). Fumblemore, sensing defeat, rushed into enemy lines and used a powerful spell, blowing himself up and fifty others in the process. Moira was beheaded by a fearsome warrior wielding two swords, enraging Honeydew who quickly avenged her with a swing of his axe. Skylord Jasper was run through, and Isabel Antioch was lost from them in the chaos.

Then, when all hope was lost, a wonderfully familiar voice cut through the noise around them.

"HEROES! Rally to me! I see you've begun without me!"

Standing there was Verigan Antioch, otherwise known as Knight Peculier (not to be confused with his grandfather), standing beside Templar Adaephon and Isabel Antioch. He looked ten years younger, with renewed vigour despite the burns on one side of his face, and fought like a lion. Along with a hundred Templars, Verigan's hammer, Adaephon's spear and Isabel's cutlass made short work of the zombies and cultists. Even creepers and endermen fell to their blades. Before long, Israphel's army was in full retreat. The adventurers then decided to continue inside the stronghold with Verigan and Adaephon, to finish what the Templar order had started.

Inside the bunker was a complex mess of computer systems and nonsensical corridors. However, the two adventurers had already been there and knew where to go. Before they reached the control room, they found Daisy Duke lying on the tiled floor in a pool of blood. "DAISY!" shouted Verigan. He rushed towards her, oblivious-

But it was too late. Israphel had already plunged the dagger deep into his back, and he fell to the ground beside her. "Daisy… I am sorry..." he sighed. "My love... I forgive you...". And with that, the two of them breathed their last. Distraught, the dwarf and spaceman did nothing, but Adaephon took charge. "GO, heroes! Find the control room and destroy these cursed machines! I'll hold off Israphel!" And with that, the last Templar King took a final stand.

The duo ran, up to the controls. The Dwarf stood watch while the spaceman typed endless lines of code into a computer terminal. He paused. "Is that it – did we do it?" asked the dwarf. "No, one is already active. I've shut down the other two, but I'll have to hack the other." While he did this, the sentinel had come to life and was shooting cultist and Templar alike with what could only be described as laser cannons. Some were even fighting back, hacking at its legs, but their attempts were in vain. The dwarf could see this from a narrow window. "Hurry UP friend!" he said, nervous. The Spaceman replied, "Just… a little more…"

And with the push of a few buttons, the head of the sentinel exploded. The body then toppled like a tree in a storm. "Oh GOD! RUN XEPHOS!" yelled the dwarf. "IT'S GONNA HIT US!" With an incredibly powerful swing of his pickaxe, the Dwarf made a hole large enough for them to jump out. They narrowly avoided the sentinel as it toppled onto the ground from whence it came. The aftermath was brutal. Bodies were strewn around like ants, all dead or dying, and the huge metal shell remains there today, rusting on the sands.

"Wow," Lalna murmured, the others in a stunned silence. "So do you see now? We were the only ones left alive after that massacre and if we try to fight, something like that will happen again. Reason is our only choice", declared Xephos. "We meet him two hours from now. I don't want Lomadia or Lalna to come, so I'll go with Honeydew and Sjin." Sjin gulped nervously in response, and Honeydew went pale. "I will try to bargain for the lives of Rythian and the Hatters, but they knew the risks," Xephos said coldly.


End file.
